Retirement Planning

Are you on the course to send your children to university?

  • Determine potential total cost to university
  • Calculate how much to save monthly
  • Continue to save enough for retirement
  • Consider more aggressive investments

 

You are 20s and early 30s... Getting started 

  • Start to work
  • Start contributing to Employee Provident Fund (EPF)
  • Start saving right away
  • Save ten percent of income
  • Invest as aggressively as you are comfortable with
  • Do not cash out retirement account

 

You are 30s through 40s...Working on it 

  • Continue saving despite other expenses
  • Save at least 10 percent
  • Have sufficient insurance and emergency fund
  • Do not invest too conservatively, beware of inflation
  • Do not tap into retirement accounts for short term goal

 

You are 50s and 60s 

  • Boost savings to 20 percent or more
  • Begin to shift into lower-risk investments
  • Manage your EPF wisely
  • Start focusing on retirement lifestyle
  • Calculate “realistic” retirement resources

 

You are retired... 

  • Determine how much money to withdraw each year
  • Plan which accounts to withdraw from
  • Plan your withdrawal schedule
  • Invest more conservatively
  • Do not abandon equities and equity fund
  • Adjust lifestyle where necessary
  • Review your estate plan

 

 

How to prepare for retirement?

 

It's never too late to start. It's only too late if you do not start at all!

 

It starts with a dream, the dream of achieving financial independence, the dream of a secure retirement. Yet you may ask yourself how you can achieve that dream when so many other financial issues need to be dealt with:-

  • Trying to pay for daily living expenses
  • Getting married or divorced
  • You may need to buy a car
  • You need to pay off debts
  • Save for children's education
  • Take family for an annual vacation
  • You may need to buy a house
  • You may save money for business expansion

 

How do you manage all these financial challenges and simultaneously try to “buy” a secure retirement? How do you turn your dreams into reality?

 

No matter how long your wish list could be, knowing that EPF alone may not be enough to pay for retirement, especially for those people who has made pre-retirement withdrawal for certain purposes, therefore, paying for the retirement is ultimately your responsibility. You must take charge!

 

Why make retirement a priority among your other goals regardless of your age?

 

This is because some goals you may be able to borrow for, for example university expenses, however you can't borrow for retirement! It's also unrealistic to use up your life's saving to achieve other goals while neglecting retirement funding. Think about this - It isn't so bad to be old OR poor, but it's catastrophic to be old AND poor!

 

Your money will continue to lose value whether you retire or not, do you have an inflation adjusted retirement plan to at least maintain your pre-retirement lifestyle?

 

Do not know where and how to start? Let's begin to build the golden nest egg for a happy retirement!

Books!